How it Works

What does a NOAA weather buoy 3000 miles away in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean have to do with snow in Utah, Colorado & Wyoming? Good question! Since the dawn of time, humans have been trying to plan their powder days, a futile feat… until now. Is it magic? Is it science? Is it dumb luck? The answer may be yes to all of the above, but more than anything, the Powderbuoy is all about a positive vibration and energy that connects soul riders around the world.

““Yeahbuuuuooooyyyyyy””

- William Jonathan Drayton Jr.

It All Starts With the Buoy

Deep in the North Pacific, a lonely NOAA buoy floats, diligently collecting all sorts of weather data. No friends on a powder day? This lonely buoy may think its only friends are the passing birds who may stop by for a few; little does the buoy know how much happiness and joy it brings to people around the world on powder days.

Weather Prediction

Tracking buoys is nothing new; surfers have followed buoys since Gary Busey was dropping in on Big Wednesday to find out when swells are going to hit specific breaks. The Powderbuoy uses these same NOAA buoys in Hawaii and tracks the same energy that surfers ride in waves in Hawaii to forecast snow that we ride in our mountains. When the buoy pops, two weeks later you’re going to want to clear your calendar.

Plan Your Powder Flu

Don’t let those sick days go to waste, plan your flu and go get you some! That TPS report can wait for another day, you’ve got powder to ski. Yeahbuoy!

Go to the Buoy Dashboard

From the Blog

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From Instagram

Holy Japow! What a week. Smiles for miles and great times with friends and fam. Thanks Freedog for organizing. This one will live in the memory books for the rest of my life. What skiing is all about, good times with good friends… and some/lots of snow in and around the face. Arrigato gozaimasu

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Help is on the way. Should start seeing some changes around MLK Monday or right after. should be getting another solid Bobbypop tomorrow or the next day hopefully that brings some more snow and keeps going through the end of the month. Heading out to Hokkaido on Friday for a week of backcountry skiing, pretty fired up #yeahbuoy. #arrigatogozaimasu

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Bobbypop! Here’s the Jan 26/7 storm that I mentioned last time. On the radar for some cold (hopefully no rain) and snow. We’ve got a week of inversion and a whole lot of nothin other than some high pressure. Looks to change around MLK day or right after. It’s been an interesting ride this season. #yeahbuoy

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One more Bobby memory in Park City, summer 2023 at the Song Summit. My favorite Jerry ballad. ❤️

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Thank you for a real good time Bobby. Grateful that I went to the sphere for one last show last year with the best setlist I’d ever seen live. 5/10/25: Man Smart, Woman Smarter, Help on the Way >Slipknot! >
Franklin’s Tower, Let It Grow, The Weight, Sugar Magnolia Set 2: Sunshine Daydream, Greatest Story Ever Told, China Cat Sunflower >I Know You Rider, Terrapin Station, Drums >Space, Days Between, Althea, Morning Dew Encore:
Not Fade Away RIP Bobby #notfadeaway

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I think things are shaping up a bit, got my first face shots this morning. Don’t want to jinx it. First, we are high and dry for a bit here, no storm on the 13/14th, but looks like MLK weekend is in play spilling into that week. Looking out at swells, and totally talking out of my league, but there could be a shot for the Eddie in Hawaii on the 12th into 13th, big swells slid down and coming in. Another round of big swells on the 15th. Those two put the 26th-29th on the radar. If temps do finally go normal we can really see things fire up!  I know it’s been hard to keep positive this season, with all the rain, but if you don’t have faith that what do ya got #yeahbuoy

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Finally got some snow!! Perfect time to sick👎. Another round coming up and temps are finally cold. If you look closely you can see a few lines that also think it’ll snow on the 14th. The buoy popped today, so we’ve got that going for us. Starting to feel a bit like winter around here. #yeahbuoy

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The buoy has been bouncing for the last 4 days. We’ve got a pretty good storm coming in today and again later this week on the 8th/9th. Hopefully we can get some cooler temps so we get snow instead of rain. I think there should be another storm around the 14th/15th and possibly lasting for a few days. There’s a smaller pop starting again tomorrow and another bigger pop on 13th that puts Jan 26th on my calendar. #yeahbuoy

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Things are starting to shape up a little, that said it was a low low bar. Storm looks to be tracking as planning for the beginning of the new year and another buoypop today putting Jan 11/12 on the radar. Let’s keep this rolling and turn in the switch! #yeahbuoy

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I’m still going to put them out there, for wishes and dreams and the hope that soon we will get some dropping temps and positive weather vibes coming our way. Today’s buoypop puts Jan 5/6 on the calendar and there’s another buoypop on the horizon that puts Jan 13/14 on the crystal ball calendar. Merry Christmas to all and make sure to wish for some snow tonight upon that Christmas star. #yeahbuoy

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I’m still holding out hope, I think we’ll see some miracle snow in higher elevations on Christmas through the 27th and then again for the new year. In the meantime it’s 63 degrees in SLC right now, golf anyone? #thingsaregoingtogetbetter #yeahbuoy

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Lots of buoy pops going on out there. This latest one pulls us into the new year. There’s some more on the horizon for the first week of January too. Don’t want to get too far ahead of things, focusing on this weekwnd and Christmas snow for now, let’s get those temps down. See you Saturday at Freedog’s solstice/ pray for snow party. #yeahbuoy

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If temperatures will behave themselves, it looks like we are still on top for some snow this weekend and Christmas. And there should be a few more between Christmas and New Year’s.#yeahbuoy

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